Lakers guard Kobe Bryant used the first week of the NBA season to ramp up his training again as he continues a comeback from a torn Achilles tendon.

Bryant, who previously told reporters he would need three weeks of "rigorous conditioning" before he considered making his debut for the 2013-14 season, said this past week of work applies to that timeline he scheduled.

"I think this is a good start," Bryant said before the Lakers played the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night. "This week was a good start. I was able to run and run pretty well, so I would probably count this week."

The 18-year veteran had "scaled back" his workouts after the team returned from a preseason trip to China that he used to test his limits, but he said he's pushing himself again.

Bryant scoffed when a reporter suggested that, by his own math, the five-time champion was now only two weeks away from returning. But Bryant did allow for some optimism.

"This week has been pretty [good]," he said. "I've been doing OK. I've been able to push pretty hard, and the next day, come back and push hard again. The recovery of it has been pretty good this week."

Bryant is sprinting on both flat surfaces and an altered-gravity treadmill when he is at the team's practice facility. The latter allows him to run while reducing the percentage of his body weight to decrease the impact on his joints.

He said he is more concerned with the rest of his body than his actual Achilles at this stage of the rehab.

"The Achilles is what it is," Bryant said. "We've gotten through the hard part with it in terms of preserving its tightness. Now you got to make sure you're not putting yourself in jeopardy for other parts of the body, and being 35 [years old], you really have to pay attention to that because you don't want to create a string of injuries that then just it's one after the other."

In particular, Bryant said his left ankle is still tender after being stabilized for so long while the Achilles was healing.